The Radiance of the Beautiful Illusion – The Fascinating Goldworks of Hermann Staudinger
"To send light into the depths of the human heart – that is the artist's calling!"
(Robert Schumann)
by Günther Oberhollenzer
I.
Hermann Staudinger's extraordinary depictions of nature leave us in awe. His motifs are familiar and commonplace, yet presented in a way we've never seen before. Bathed in an inimitable golden radiance, dense forests emerge in flickering, atmospheric lighting; trees and needles glow with a celestial sheen; sunbeams entangle themselves in full treetops and mossy ground. The works evoke an immediate connection to nature, yet these landscapes - despite their often vertical formats - do not offer expansive, romantic panoramas. Zoomed in close, we see only sections of trunks and branches, leaves, and moss; stripped of their physicality, these elements sometimes appear almost abstract, reduced to graphic or planar structures. And the artworks radiate - imbued with impenetrable beauty, composed with quiet restraint, exuding a reverent stillness - images that seem to belong to another world.
Staudinger delights in nature's inexhaustible diversity of forms, a boundless field of exploration to poetically and sensually create a new reality through light and shadow, surface, and space. The artist believes the forest is infinite, and perhaps that is his intent:
to confront infinity through artistic means. His works transcend their planar confines. Standing before them, one senses that these are but fragments of an artistic reality. The edge of the panel is not the edge of the image. The boundless, ceaseless image can only be depicted in excerpts, as human capacities are limited. As a viewer, moving closer and stepping back again, I feel as if I can catch a glimpse of infinity.
Staudinger's works remind me - perhaps a bold comparison - of the light painting of Pierre Soulages (*1919). Since the 1990s, the French artist has focused on exploring light and shadow on pure black surfaces. Soulages coined the term "Outrenoir" ("beyond black"). His Outrenoir paintings are canvases entirely covered in thick layers of black oil paint, whose relief-like textures create light reflections that shift depending on the light source and the viewer's position. Soulages thus "paints light" using black. Similarly, Staudinger's works change appearance depending on the viewer's angle and the light source. This ranges from negative to positive views, from two- to three-dimensional shimmering structures that open deep spaces and seem to actively emit light as if by magic. The works glow particularly beautifully and intensely in dim twilight or flickering candlelight. Such viewing experiences, however, are only possible in the physical presence of the original works. Even with today's advanced printing techniques, an art book cannot adequately convey such an impression. Gold, in particular, is nearly impossible to faithfully reproduce.
II.
In early Christian, medievial, and Byzantine art, gold held a central role. By the 15th century, however, it disappeared from artists’ studios, only to be rediscovered at the dawn of the 20th century as a means of expression and significance. Since then, gold as a color and material has experienced a "renaissance" that continues to this day. The gold background (a surface made of gold leaf) traces its origins to Byzantine mosaics and has been used in book and panel painting since the 4th century CE, particularly in depictions of saints. In medieval art, gold was indispensable, bestowing material opulence and elevating images to a sacred, timeless sphere. The figures, isolated against the warm gold background, seemed detached from earthly existence.
The illusionism in modern age art signifies a turnaround. In „About Painting“ Leon Battista Alberti writes, it would be better to depict gold rather than using it. Because of its strong shine it disturbs the other colours. The Renaissance of the 16th century with the invention of its central perspective leaves no space for the golden backgrounds. They are replaced by landscape and scenery (while byzantine-russian icon-painting retains them). Gold disappears from art - with the exception of some long-stigmatized works.
In baroque times many things are gilded, especially to display power and fortune, but as a means of painting it is gone. Only from the middle of the 20th century on with the new realism of Yves Klein and Robert Rauschenberg the material reemerges. Klein connects it - like in his famous Yves Klein blue - to the idea of the cosmic void. Rauschenberg is the first one to take a deeper interest into the pure material. This interest has grown in the art world in the last decades, peaking in Austria in the show „Gold“, curated by Thomas Zaunschirm at the Belvedere, Vienna. 200 works on display from 125 artists. Staudinger is aslo represented with some works.
Today, more artists work with gold than at any time since the Middle Ages. The Gold exhibition catalog stated that the show aimed for a "fundamental revision" of how gold is perceived in art history, emphasizing that its use extends far beyond the sacred and transcendent. Gold in art often suffers from stereotypes or prejudices—seen as kitschy, ornamental, traditional, artisanal, elitist, or sacral. While some of these criticisms may hold true, contemporary artists often embrace and subvert them.
Staudinger’s approach to gold, however, is marked by seriousness and reverence. He understands the historical significance of this unique material, its enduring allure and fascination, its preciousness and permanence, its transcendent connotations, and its unparalleled light and color effects. He draws on traditional (and restorative) techniques of gold refinement and craftsmanship, translating these into his own contemporary visual language. For Staudinger, gold has long been both a central theme and a driving force, captivating him even as he seeks to tame it.
III.
Staudinger's "golden ground embossings" begin with photographs of plants, animals, or people, digitally altered into high-contrast black-and-white images. These are printed as large copies, laid onto hand-gilded wooden panels, and meticulously traced. Black areas of the images are transferred to the golden surface using fine hatching with a hard pencil. The pencil subtly indents the gold, creating a relief where reflected light is broken. Once the template is removed, a delicate, relief-like image emerges, entirely without pigments, relying solely on light and shadow for its effect.
What can we call this technique? It bears similarities to frottage and grattage, both techniques developed by Max Ernst (1891–1976). Frottage (from the French frotter, "to rub") involves transferring a surface's texture onto paper using a pencil or crayon. Grattage (from gratter, "to scrape") refers to scraping through layers of paint to create new forms. Staudinger's process is closer to grattage, but it might be more accurately described as a handmade unique print or gold embossing. Since 1999, Staudinger has been refining this self-invented technique.
"There’s so much life in those countless little strokes," says Staudinger. This is evident in his works. The labor-intensive process and precise, detailed transfer imbue his art with a density that seems to carry the time invested within it. The many fine lines coalesce into a cohesive image in the viewer's eye, while something intangible, almost spiritual, resonates, lending the works an emotional depth that is difficult to articulate.
Staudinger imagines his own world, governed by self-imposed rules and laws. Yet his artworks transcend their material form, pointing toward something spiritual, beyond sensory experience. "These works should be viewed so that the gold shines," writes Gustav Schörghofer about Staudinger’s art. "The gleaming gold expands into a space - a light space, one might say - and it represents both the origin and the destiny of things, a realm different from the physical world we inhabit. In this sense, gold is always connected to the sacred."
IV.
Staudinger’s Golden Wall series, which he has been working on since 2014, features abstract, minimalist images with small, square patterns. These works exude a mysterious aura, oscillating between past and present, appearing simultaneously ancient and modern. The artist employs a traditional, old master technique, yet creates something entirely new—something never seen before.
This process involves poliment gilding, the most refined and traditional form of gilding. However, it is also a highly intricate technique that requires considerable skill and experience. Poliment gilding is most commonly used on Christian figures and ornate picture frames, and it is suitable for absorbent surfaces such as wood, plaster, or stucco.
The process unfolds over several steps. It begins with the application of a glue-based soaking solution, followed by the buildup of a chalk ground. The poliment itself serves as the direct base layer for the gold leaf. Poliment is a fine, meticulously prepared clay mixed with glue, traditionally an earth pigment in shades of red, but sometimes also yellow, black or bluish-gray.
To attach the gold leaf, a diluted alcohol solution called "netze" is applied, which reactivates the glue. This allows the gold leaf, applied with brushes, to adhere securely to the surface and ensures a strong bond.
“The key to these meticulously crafted pieces lies in the fact that their gilding is done using countless small pieces of gold leaf,” the artist explains. “For a surface measuring 120 x 120 cm, approximately 5,000 sheets, each measuring 2 x 2 cm, are applied.”
Once the surface is fully gilded, Staudinger removes the uppermost layer of the work with an exceptionally fine sanding process - a technique with proven traditional roots. The colored poliment base layer, such as a reddish hue, begins to show through, and the gold only shines where it overlaps, meaning where it has been applied twice. This creates the characteristic net-like structure.
It comes as no surprise that the artist cites the American color field painter Ad Reinhardt (1913–1967) as an inspiration. In his constructivist-geometric works, Reinhardt limited his palette to a narrow chromatic spectrum, often focusing on variations of a single color, such as red. After 1953, he created only Black Paintings, which he described as “meditation panels”: black-toned rectangular paintings with cross-like rectangular forms that are almost imperceptible. Only upon close examination do the subtlest gradations in color and structure reveal themselves.
Staudinger, too, masterfully explores concentrated reduction and the interplay between visibility and disappearance. The large surfaces of his works invite viewers to "immerse" themselves completely in expansive, seemingly infinite spaces of light - spaces of deceleration and silence, where both the eye and mind can linger in what Immanuel Kant described as “disinterested delight.”
"My works are like a breath that permeates many things," says Hermann Staudinger. He creates images of soothing beauty, aiming to embody the ideals of harmony, diligence, thoughtfulness, and refinement. Gold, he explains, is like a window that must be opened to let fresh air in. At the same time, gold is always alluring and seductive. We willingly feel the fresh breeze of these artworks and gladly allow ourselves to be captivated.
—
The quotes by Hermann Staudinger come from personal conversations between the author and the artist (2021/2022), as well as from his website. Similarly, the quote by Gustav Schörghofer is drawn from the same sources.
The catalog Gold, accompanying the exhibition of the same name at the Belvedere, was published in 2012 by Hirmer Verlag, Munich.